Monday, 21 July 2008

GARDAI have issued an appeal for witnesses to two fatal gangland-style shootings in Dublin less than 12 hours apart.

Detectives investigating the death of 33-year-old Trevor Walsh in Finglas, less than 12 hours after the shooting dead of Anthony Foster in Coolock, have so far ruled out any connection between the two.

But garda sources say they are continuing to explore all possible motives for the two murders.

Mr Walsh (33) died in a hail of bullets outside a house at Kippure Park in Finglas in an apparently planned attack at 12.20am on Saturday morning.

The dead man was released from prison just two days earlier after serving a sentence for possession of ammunition, and gardai suspect his killer may have been following him since his release.

Mr Walsh had 47 previous convictions and was coming home after a night out socialising when he was approached by his killer, who was wearing a hooded top.

He was shot in the head and chest at least four times, before his killer fled the scene on a bicycle. He was rushed to James Connolly Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Anyone with information is asked to contact gardai in Finglas at 01 6667500 or at the garda confidential line on 1800 666111. No funeral arrangements have been released.

Mr Walsh became the eighth victim of gangland violence so far this year, joining Anthony Foster (34), who died just 11 hours earlier. His was the first gangland-style murder in three months.

Dead

The convicted drug dealer was shot dead at Cromcastle Court in Coolock in broad daylight as he left a flat with his girlfriend to collect his children from a creche.

He was hit by a shotgun blast as he walked down the stairs from his top-floor flat around 1.45pm and was dead when gardai arrived on the scene. His partner was uninjured.

The killer escaped on a motorcycle which may have been stolen earlier in the day from a shop on the Malahide Road. The owner was threatened with a shotgun and tied up during the robbery.

Garda sources said last night they were not yet certain why Mr Foster was murdered, but it was possible he had been involved in a dispute with a drug-trafficking gang. No description has been given for a suspect.

Mr Foster was jailed for six years in 2001 for handling cannabis resin worth €30,000 in April 2000.

Gardai have appealed for witnesses who may have seen the gunman near the Coolock flats at lunchtime on Friday to come forward.

Anybody with information is asked to contact the gardai at Santry on 01 6664200 or at the garda confidential line on 1800 666111.

The last gangland victim murdered was drug dealer Anthony Russell, who was gunned down in a pub in Artane, Dublin.

He was a key associate of the leader of one of the north inner city feuding gangs, Christy Griffin, but gardai have ruled out any connection between that shooting and Mr Foster's death.

Sunday, 20 July 2008

Bloody gang feud linked to execution of ex-convictVictim believed to have been stalked by gunman after release from jail

By JIM CUSACK

Sunday July 20 2008

The murder of Trevor Walsh only two days after he was released from prison, and just 11 hours after another gangland murder in Dublin, is being linked to a feud between a former gang of Finglas robbers and drug dealers which broke up three years ago.

Feuding in Finglas had died down since last October's murder of the infamous Liveline prison cell caller, John Daly, who gardai said was an associate of Trevor Walsh, who was shot dead at 12.20am yesterday in Kippure Avenue.

A gunman, who gardai believe had been stalking Walsh since his release from prison on Thursday, shot him in the head with what gardai believe was an automatic handgun. He shot him in the head a second time as he lay on the ground.

Walsh (33) had just served over two years of a three-year sentence for possession of a firearm in Finglas in 2004. He had a lengthy criminal record, with more than 50 convictions. Local people said he was a heavy cocaine user.

His murder came just 11 hours after the murder of Anthony Foster, 34, in Coolock. He was killed by a single shotgun blast to his head as he left his flat in Cromcastle Court with his partner to pick up his two young children from a creche. His partner was uninjured.

The killer escaped on a waiting motorcycle which gardai believe was stolen a short while earlier from a motorcycle shop on the Malahide Road. The owner was threatened with a shotgun and tied up during the robbery.

Gardai said that they were uncertain why Foster, who was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 2001 for possession of a large quantity of cannabis, was murdered, but it was possible he had been involved in a dispute with another local drug dealer.

It is the second serious shooting in the area within a fortnight. Two weeks ago, Anthony Ayodeji, 21, was shot in the neck as he sat in a car in Darndale. A baby in the back seat of the car was unhurt, but was covered in blood and glass. Garda sources yesterday said there appeared to be no connection between the murder of Anthony Foster, in Coolock, and Trevor Walsh, in Finglas.

Walsh was a close associate of John Daly, the 27-year-old robber and drug dealer who was shot dead last October as he sat in the front passenger seat of a taxi. Daly created a furore when he phoned into RTE's Liveline show from his cell in Portlaoise Prison. Subsequently more than 2,000 mobile phones were found in prison searches and much stricter regimes were enforced to disrupt the drugs trade into jails. Gardai believe that leading gangs figures angered by the clampdown caused by Daly ordered his murder.

Another associate of Walsh's was Declan Curran, who died from a drugs overdose while serving a prison term in November 2004.

After Curran's death the gang disintegrated and former associates started killing each other.

At one point the rate of murders in Finglas surpassed that of Limerick and even the Crumlin and Drimnagh district, which was at the centre of another feud that has claimed 11 lives. The Crumlin and Drimnagh area, however, has resumed its reputation for bloodletting, with eight murders since last October.

Gangland wars have turned Dublin into the Chicago of the 21st century, a TD and chairman of a drugs task force in the Irish capital said last night.

Labour TD Joe Costello also revealed that a preliminary study by the Inner City Drugs Task Force has found that a majority of drug dealers arrested on serious offences were out on bail.

Costello made his remarks following two more gangland-related murders in north Dublin this weekend. Gardai have launched a murder investigation following the fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man in Finglas early yesterday. The victim was named as Trevor Walsh, from Valley Park Road in Finglas. He had been serving a three-year prison sentence for possession of firearms, but was let out on temporary release on Thursday.

The attack, which happened at about 12.20am outside a house on the Kippure Park estate, was the second fatal shooting in the capital in 24 hours.

A gunman approached the victim outside a house in the estate and shot him in the neck and chest, before fleeing the scene on a bicycle. It is understood that the killer used an automatic pistol. Walsh was taken to Blanchardstown Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 1am.

The victim was associated with the late John Daly, a Dublin criminal who was shot dead last October. Walsh had been a member of a gang which specialised in importing drugs and armed robberies in the city.

It is not clear whether yesterday morning's attack was connected to the shooting of a man in Coolock, north Dublin, on Friday afternoon. The man, named locally as 34-year-old Anthony Foster, was killed with a shotgun as he left a top-floor apartment at Cromcastle Court. Commenting on the latest gang-related shooting, Costello, who represents inner-city Dublin in the Dail, said there was no coherent plan to counter the rising number of killings.

'Dublin now resembles Chicago in the Roaring Twenties, when the gangsters were out of control,' he said. 'There is no joined-up strategy to fight these gangs, either at a national or international level. All of our drugs are imported, mostly by sea along Ireland's coastline, yet we have no proper network with our fellow Europeans to patrol the seaboard. We don't have enough boats, planes or helicopters to intercept the smuggling networks,' he said.

Over the last three years there have been more than a dozen killings in north Dublin alone related to rival drugs gangs. Costello added that, while the Irish government talks tough in regard to Ireland's gangland wars, the system remained loaded in the criminals' favour. 'We have found that the overwhelming majority of people arrested on serious drug offences almost all get bail and are back on the streets. The turf wars over who controls drug supplies in certain parts of Dublin have been fuelled by the easy availability of firearms and now explosives.'

Costello said the expertise of retired republican paramilitaries had been harnessed to arm and train the city's criminal gangs.

Saturday, 19 July 2008

A convicted drug dealer, who worked with addicts in a rehabilitation project, was shot dead in a gangland-style murder outside his home yesterday.

The victim was named last night as Anthony Foster (34), who had served a six-year jail sentence for possession of cannabis.

Mr Foster was shot in the head as he left his home at Cromcastle Court flats complex in Coolock, on the northside of Dublin, to collect his children from a creche.

He was hit by a shotgun blast as he walked down the stairs from his top floor flat around 1.45pm and was dead when gardai arrived on the scene.

Last night, officers were working on the theory that Mr Foster had been killed because of a row with a drug trafficking gang.

Appeal

It was the first gangland murder in three months and the seventh this year. The last victim was drug dealer Anthony Russell, who was gunned down in a pub in Artane.

Russell was a key associate of the leader of one of the north inner city feuding gangs, Christy Griffin, and gardai have ruled out any connection between that shooting and yesterday's incident.

Officers admitted last night that they were not yet following any definite line of inquiry.

They appealed for witnesses who may have seen the gunman near the flats at lunchtime yesterday to come forward. They have not yet established how he made his escape.

Detectives are investigating a separate incident in which the owner of a motorcycle shop was tied up at Malahide Road and a motorcycle stolen.

But they said the timing of the robbery -- it was carried out shortly before the murder -- indicated it was unlikely that it was connected to the shooting.

Gardai also suggested that if the gunman was acting alone, he probably left the flats complex on foot and later linked up with an accomplice.

Mr Foster was jailed for six years by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, in May 2001, for handling cannabis worth €30,000. He pleaded guilty to possession of the drug with intent to supply in April 2000.

The court heard that Mr Foster had asked for help from the Merchant's Quay rehabilitation project when he became addicted to drugs -- after his brother had died from an overdose.

When Mr Foster overcame his addiction, he told volunteers that he wanted to help other addicts in the project.

Judge Elizabeth Dunne said Foster was very cynical to have worked helping addicts while selling cannabis resin.

The court was also told that €20,000 found in Mr Foster's home was the proceeds of drug dealing, while 12 blocks of cannabis resin were found in a neighbouring premises.

Search

A detailed forensic search of the flats stairwell was carried out by gardai yesterday afternoon and State Pathologist Marie Cassidy made a preliminary examination of the victim's body before it was removed for a post mortem.

Last night, one of the officers leading the investigation, Det Supt Seamus Kane issued an appeal to anybody with information about the shooting to contact the gardai at Santry on (01) 6664200 or via the garda confidential line on 1800 666111.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan called for a minimum 25-year jail sentence for convicted murderers. He said gangland criminals showed no concern for the law or human life and must be punished severely.

"Yet those convicted of murder get off far too lightly, often spending 12 or 13 years in jail for what is meant to be a life sentence," he added.

This is the fourth gangland murder in Dublin this year. Two others were committed in Limerick and one in Sligo.

TWO separate murder investigations are under way today after the shooting dead of two men less than 12 hours apart.

A 33-year-old man, named locally as Trevor Walsh, became the capital’s latest gun victim in the early hours of this morning after he was shot in the head while passing a house in the Kippure Park Estate in Finglas.

The innocent occupants of the house are not in any way connected to the incident.

His murder came less than 12 hours after the gunning down of Anthony Foster (34) in Coolock as he left his home to collect his children from a nearby creche.

Foster was hit by a shotgun blast as he walked down the stairs from his third-floor flat at around 1.45pm and was dead when gardai arrived on the scene.

Walsh, who had some 50 previous convictions, mostly related to his drug and alcohol addiction, was gunned down as he walked in Finglas at 20 minutes after midnight.

SHOTGUN

A lone gunman blasted him with a shotgun from close range after following him for a distance. He was rushed to the James Connolly Memorial Hospital but was pronounced dead upon his arrival. A post mortem was conducted today. He had only recently been released from jail and was well known to gardai in Finglas.

Gardai have sealed off the area for technical examination, a tent has since been erected, and they are now appealing for witnesses.

The tent was positioned at a point where it covered the pavement outside one house as well as the entrance to the driveway. It is believed the victim was passing by the house when the fatal attack occurred.

Kippure Park is made up of a network of roads that form many cul de sacs adjacent to the Tolka Valley Road.

One woman leaving the estate this morning was shocked at the sight of the cordoned-off scene.

“I didn’t know anything about it until I left the house. I remember being half awoken by three bangs, but I thought it my be a car or kids messing,” she said.

Other neighbours said they weren’t in at the time of the shooting and it was only when they were coming home in the early hours that they saw the estate had been sealed off by gardai.

It is unclear whether the shooting of Mr Walsh is connected to the slaying in nearby Coolock of Anthony Foster almost twelve hours earlier. Last night, officers were working on the theory that Mr Foster had been killed because of a row with a drug-trafficking gang.

The convicted drug dealer was leaving his third-floor flat in Cromcastle Court to collect his children from a nearby creche at 1.45pm yesterday.

GUNMAN

He had reached the ground floor of the flats complex, where his partner was waiting for him, when he was gunned down.

It is believed this was a planned attack as the gunman appeared to lie in wait for his victim, who may have been followed for a number of days prior to his death.

Children were playing near the flat complex when a gunman opened fire on Foster at close range.

Drug disputes have spilled over onto the streets on the Northside this year with a number of shootings. The two latest murders were the first since a gangland hit three months ago. The last victim was drug dealer Anthony Russell, who was gunned down in a pub in Artane. Mr Russell was a key associate of gang leader Christy Griffin, who is now in jail. The Foster murder investigation is being led by Det Supt Seamus Kane from Santry Garda station.

The gardai have appealed for any witnesses who may have seen the gunman in the vicinity of the flats across the roadfrom the Northside shopping centre at lunchtime yesterday to come forward.

They can be contacted at Santry Garda station on 01-6664200 or on the garda confidential telephone line at 1800 666111.

LINKED

The shooting may be linked to another incident which happened close by yesterday in which the owner of a motorcycle shop was tied up on the Malahide Road.

The incident happened just before the shooting at Cromcastle Court and a motorbike stolen from the premises may have been used in the getaway from the scene.

The horrific deaths of two young men in Dublin within 12 hours brings to 10 those murdered by gun gangs so far this year.

Six of them have lost their lives in Dublin, two in Limerick, one in Sligo and one in Co Donegal.

The New Year was just five days old when the first victim of gun terror was killed.

David Lynch, a father of four, was shot dead in a housing estate in Sligo town on January 5. A convicted armed raider, he was gunned down as he got out of a van near his home on Collery Drive.

Conflict between dissident republican paramilitaries spilled over into the Republic on February 12 when a Northern man was shot dead outside a Catholic church in Co Donegal.

Andrew Burns (27), a painter and decorator from Strabane, Co Tyrone, was shot dead near Castlefin, allegedly because he was a police informer.

On Monday morning February 18, Dublin saw its first gun gang victim.

The body of 21-year-old Darren Guerrine was found near his home at the Grand Canal in Bluebell, Inchicore. He had been shot twice in the head execution style, but gardai do not believe he had any links with major criminals. He had only minor convictions for public order and road traffic offences.

In March, two Dublin gangland figures met their deaths within 48 hours.

On Thursday night, March 6, drug dealer John Berney was shot dead in front of his partner in his home in Newcastle, Co Dublin. A masked man shot him several times after bursting into the couple's bedroom.

Richie McCormack (29), became the fifth victim of gun crime when he was shot by a lone gunman outside his brother's home in Ronanstown, Clondalkin.

Gardai said the father of one was connected to organised crime and associated with well known drug dealers.

Limerick's spiral of violence saw 40-year-old Mark Moloney shot dead in the Garryowen area on April 5.

Two days later, the body of 20-year-old James Cronin was found in a makeshift grave in Limerick -- apparently murdered to keep him quiet about the identity of those involved in the Moloney murder.

On April 18, Anthony Russell, a gangland figure, drug dealer and murder suspect was shot dead in a pub in Artane on Dublin's Northside.

He was hit at least 10 times as he waited to take part in a poker school at the pub.

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

A murder victim's girlfriend broke down today as she told how a gunman pumped six bullets into his victim on a Dublin street.

Valerie White told an inquest jury that she saw the gunman, dressed in a three-quarter-length camouflage jacket and blue jeans, fire shots at 30-year-old Gary Bryan.

The jury heard he was hit by six bullets from a handgun and probably died immediately at the scene at Bunting Road, in the Walkinstown area, on September 26, 2006.

The murder is believed to have been carried out as part of the gangland war between Drimnagh and Crumlin criminals which has claimed 11 lives.

Cheered

The gunman and an accomplice, who escaped in a stolen vehicle, cheered as they made their getaway from the murder scene, the jury heard.

There had been an extensive garda investigation into the homicide, but the Director of Public Prosecutions had decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute, Det Insp Brian Sutton, who investigated the killing, said.

Valerie White, Gary Bryan’s then girlfriend, told how the two had spent an ordinary day shopping, eating at McDonald’s and buying cigarettes before calling to her mother’s house.

Gary was working on his blue Micra car when he said to her that he had spotted a “fella” driving by in a VW Golf car and that “I have to get out of here”.

She went back into the house to make coffee when her mother suddenly “popped up and said, ‘Valerie, something is happening’.”

She then heard a shot from a gun and ran out when she saw the gunman. He was standing over Gary who was lying on a grass verge.

She ran towards the man, who appeared “a bit startled” and saw he had black fringe which she thought might be a wig and was wearing brown sunglasses. He was stocky build and he ran towards a silver car with a spoiler.

The dead man had reportedly been associated with those involved in a long-running feud between criminal gangs in Crumlin and Drimnagh.

Bryan had been charged with the murder of Paul Warren of |St Teresa’s Gardens in February, 2004. However, his trial at |the Central Criminal Court collapsed in February, 2006.